Tama skateboard park moves closer

Exercise area for differently-abled, baskeball court included

June 10, 2013

Preparations for the long-awaited Tama Skateboard Park will get under way this month Tama Police Chief Dan Wilkens said earlier this week. He has spearheaded the project since the idea surfaced several years ago.

The park will include a basketball court and an exercise area for differently-abled adults as well as a skateboarding area, Mayor Dan Zimmerman said Monday in unveiling new plans.

It is being built on the former South Tama schools tennis courts at the corner of 9th and McClellan. A parking lot will also be included on the southwest corner of the property.

Article Photos

Dan Wilkens

Mayor Dan Zimmerman

Both public and private donations totaling $12,397 have been received to help pay for the facility according to Judy Welch, Tama city clerk. Tama Council members authorized volunteers to be allowed to work on the park during the Monday night council meeting.

Mayor Dan Zimmerman said Wilkens, who is skilled in construction work himself, Kenny Bacon, Twin Cities Construction, Paul Van Hamme, Van Hamme Construction, Chris Simon, Simon Construction and Chad Duncan, Chad Duncan Construction have all volunteered to work on the project. They will be joined by some off-duty city employees.

The South Tama School District sold the area to the City of Tama for one dollar after the nearby South Tama Primary was closed. The STC?Intermediate Building, once Tama and Tama-Toledo High School, a block west of the courts, had been converted to an alternative high school by this time and the tennis courts were falling into disrepair.